An average movie

I already saw this movie, in fact, I’m pretty sure I saw it in the movie theater when it was released. Anyway, it was years ago and I was quite eager to give it a 2nd chance. I remember it very well, before this movie was released, there was quite some buzz about it. Indeed, it was Alejandro Amenabar’s first US feature after his breakthrough with ‘Abre los ojos’ and Nicole Kidman was pretty much at the top of her game at the time. Eventually, back then, it turned out to be a critical and commercial success so I had some rather high expectations before watching it the first time around. At the time, even though it was definitely a decent gothic horror feature with a very nice mood and some solid acting from Nicole Kidman, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing though. Well, after all these years, after rewatching the damned thing, I still ended up with the same feeling, I'm afraid. Basically, pretty much like ‘The Sixth Sense’ which was released just a couple of years before, the whole thing ended up with a supposedly clever twist ending (the twist in both movies was actually quite similar) but I figured out that this ending was not actually the issue with this movie. Indeed, the issue was that, while it looked very nice, nothing really noteworthy occured through the whole duration and, in my opinion, it is a pretty-looking film but rather shallow after all. I mean, they spent so much time closing curtains and opening and closing doors (seriously, this topic took maybe half of the duration) but, eventually, what was that all about since there was very little evidence that these kids were sick at all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it never really dazzled me, I have to admit it that it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

6/10